Last night the world of MMA, and especially Irish MMA, was turned upside when reports from Brazil said that the much anticipated title fight for Notorious was in doubt after the champion suffered a rib injury.

With the fight less than three weeks away, and with the bout one of the most eagerly anticipated UFC clashes of the year, the news was a hammer blow to many fans.

Overnight UFC head honcho Dana White tried to soothe fans by simply tweeting 'Relax everyone' but the news this morning only offers us a thin glimmer of hope.

Speaking to Brazilian media, Aldo's coach Andre Pederneiras confirmed his man is injured but he also confirmed he still wants to step into the octagon in Las Vegas.

"He cried. He wants this fight bad, everybody invested a lot in this," Pederneiras told Combate. "I was with him the whole afternoon. He’s heartbroken. He wants to fight anyway. Now we have to wait for the exam results. Aldo is in deep pain."

And if the injury is, as expected, confirmed as a broken or cracked rib, then the champion won't be back in action for many months.

"If the fracture is really confirmed, Aldo will have to stop training, do nothing for three or four weeks until it’s fixed, and then he would be able to do any exercise without forcing his rib," the coach said. "And then he would need a normal time to do a training camp: three months. I believe this fight wouldn’t happen before October."

It is believed that the UFC bosses have met with McGregor's camp to try and work out what to do if Aldo does pull out but it looks like we will have to wait until much later in the year to see him face Aldo.